Part 2

Unfortunately on account of various reasons, some of which we shall mention shortly, the hadith did not remain immune from forgery and other problems. A great number of incorrect traditions found way into collections of prophetic sayings. The task of separating genuine traditions from apocryphal material was as necessary as that of removing weeds from a flower bed; as in case of weeds, their identification and removal was not an easy task, nor could they be left to flourish untouched, threatening the genuine material itself.

This was the reason why religious scholars, in their capacity as vigilant gardeners of the Faith, began to look for ways of separating forged material from genuine hadith. They needed new tools for this task, which was not an easy one, as is evident from the fact that despite centuries of scholarly efforts the remnants of these dangerous and destructive weeds have continued to survive.

As to how these weeds found their way into the flower beds of prophetic tradition, here are some of the important reasons:

1. There were some who wilfully sprinkled the seeds of such weeds, and dedicatedly looked after their growth and survival. Amongst them were supporters of Banu Umayyah and other opponents of Islam who dissembled adherence to it1.

2. Emergence of various sects in Islam led to forgeries by followers of different sects who wished to produce documentary evidence in favour of their own sect and to detriment of their opponents2.

3. Fabrications made by the devout about virtues of piety and abstinence from evil, who imagined that by this means they would be better equipped to guide others3.

4. Inclusion of Jewish myths, a process which was stimulated by the popular sense of curiosity and the people's interest in the lives and times of former prophets. Such imaginative accounts are replete in narrations regarding the lives and deeds of prophets - such as the account related by al-Tabari on the authority of Ibn Munabbih. According to this account, the serpent, formerly, had hands and legs; but since it allowed the Devil to enter its belly, God had made its limbs to sink into its stomach4!

5. Tribal and regional prejudices and rivalries, which incited some to forge traditions to be produced as evidence of their superiority over others - as is evident from traditions related to some cities.

6. Personal ambition was another stimulant which prompted some to be included among the scholars of hadith through forgery.

7. Fabrication of hadith as a means of procurement of personal gain or of earning goodwill of the caliph in power5.

8. Controversies and differences among jurists (fuqaha') prompted some scholars to fabricate traditions to be invoked in support of their own legal positions.

9. Story-tellers and reciters of fables, admittedly, were not averse to letting their imagination wander into the domain of hadith6.

Due to the above-mentioned and other reasons besides, a critical examination of hadith was necessary. As a result of the efforts made by Muslim scholars in this regard, a new branch was created in the science of hadith; it came to be called “dirayat al-hadith7”.

The Nihayat al-dirayah defines dirayat al-hadith in these words: “It is a science which investigates the isnad, contents, subject and the mode of transmission of ahadith, so that acceptable traditions can be separated from unacceptable ones.”

The emergence of `ilm dirayat al-hadith was followed by its division into numerous branches. Certain rules and guidelines were evolved for distinguishing reliable from unreliable ahadith. The body of such rules came to be called “mustalah al-hadith”, which together with `ilm al-rijal (lit. science of men), formed the means of scrutinizing hadith material.

However, for this purpose, knowledge of other preliminaries such as Arabic grammar and syntax, familiarity with literary style and form, knowledge of abrogated (mansukh) and the abrogating (nasikh) verses of the Qur'an, knowledge of the history of Islam and that of various Islamic sects and their beliefs, and other details regarding hadith, is necessary.

Haji Khalifah, in his Kashf al-zunun defines `ilm al-dirayah in this manner: “`Ilm dirayat al-hadith, which discusses the content and meaning of the words of hadith on the basis of Arabic grammar and syntax, and shar`i criteria, and examines their correspondence with the circumstances of the Messenger of Allah (S), linguistic standards of Arabic sciences and reports about the Messenger (S), consists of `ilm al-rijal, (the science of narrators, their names, genealogical lineages, lifetimes, their dates of death, their characters and circumstances of reception and transmission of hadith, as well as its topic or subject) and aims to distinguish acceptable from unacceptable traditions.

It entails classification of various modes of transmission, linguistic background of narrators, their remarks and criticism about what they have narrated, their connection with the prior source from whom they have received, knowledge of possession of permission (ijazah)8 by a narrator, and knowledge of various classifications of hadith, such as sahih, hasan, da`if, etc9.”

The following verse of the Qur'an made it incumbent upon al-muhaddithin (scholars of hadith) to make a thorough enquiry into details of narrators of ahadith:

O believers, if an ungodly man comes to you with a report, investigate, lest you afflict a people unwittingly and then repent of what you have done. (49:6)

As to who were pioneers in this field, it must be admitted that the Shi`ah had taken a lead in this field. The first writer to compile a book on this subject was Abu Muhammad `Abd Allah ibn Jibillah ibn Hayyan al-Kanani (died 219/834)10. But according to Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti in his Kitab al-'awa'il, the first writer on `ilm al-rijal was Shu`bah (died 260/87374)11. However, it is clear that the statement of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti does not correspond with historical fact, for `Abd Allah ibn Jibillah died forty years before Shu`bah.

Another important point that should be noted here is that writing of chronicles of persons or biographical accounts was current amongst the Shi`ah from the very early days of Islam. If this is taken into account, Abu Rafi` and his desendents took a lead before all others12.

Some books on `ilm al-rijal give biographical accounts of narrators without giving the dates of their death, such as Ta'rikh of Ibn Jarir, Muruj al-dhahab of al-Mas`udi, aI-Kamjl fi al-ta'rikh of Ibn al-Athir. Some give dates of death without biographical accounts. Others, being more comprehensive, give almost all essential details, such as the works of Abu al-Faraj Jawzi and al-Dhahabi13.

The most important books compiled by Shi`ah scholars on `ilm al-rijal are five. They are:

1. Kitab al-rijal by Abi al-`Abbas Ahmad ibn `Ali al-Najashi (died 450/1058), which later became known merely as “al-Najash”, gives accounts of lives of narrators who have compiled books, giving little attention to others. Though the biographical accounts are given in an alphabetical order, the compilation is not very orderly. However, later, through the efforts of Kazim al-Ansari (died 1006/1597-8), Mulla `Inayat Allah Quhpa'i (died 1016/1607- 8) - the author of Majma` al-rijal - and Shaykh Dawud ibn al-Hasan al-Bahrayni (died 1104/1692-3), these defects have been removed.

2. Kitab al-fihrist, by Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tusi, known as “Shaykh al-Ta'ifah” (died 460/1067-8). This book gives the biographical accounts in an alphabetical order. Moreover, several others have worked upon it.

3. Kitab al-rijal, also by al-Tusi, in which he gives the names of the contemporaries of every Imam (A) in the order of their succession.

3. Kitab Abi Musa, Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr al-'Isfahani (died 581/1185-6), which is a continuation of the work of Ibn Mandah.

4. Al-'Isti`ab by Ibn `Abd al-Birr.

After the above four works, other writings on `ilm al-rijal by Sunni scholars were primarily based on them. `Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Athir al-Jazari (died 630/1132-3) brought them together in his Usd al-ghabah. AI-Dhahabi produced a summarized version of Usd al-ghabah in his Tajrid Asma' al-Sahabah, adding some new entries. Badr al-Din Muhammad al-Qudsi and Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Kashghari, too, produced their own condensed versions of the Usd al-ghabah14.

A point worthy of notice here is that Shi`ah scholars of `ilm al-rijal, in the fifth and sixth centuries, named such books as were exclusively related to Shi`ite narrators of hadith as “rijal”, calling accounts of others, including both Shi`ah and Sunni narrators, as “ta'rikh”15.

Another notable point is that, in the past, there existed a mutual, inseparable link between the three disciplines of dirayat al-hadith, `ilm rijal al-hadith and bibliography. Works dealing with one of the topics, invariably discussed issues connected with the other disciplines.

78. Muntajab al-Din, `Ali ibn `Ubayd Allah Babawayh (died after 585/1189). He wrote Kitab al-fihrist, and a history of the Shi`ah scholars. Al-Majlisi included it at the end of vol. XXV of his Bihar al-anwar.

79. Ibn Shahr Ashub, Muhammad ibn `Ali (died 588/1192). He made additions at the end of al-Tusi's Fihrist.

87. Ibn Tawus, Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Ja`far al-Hilli (died 673/1274-75) wrote Hall al-'ishkal in the year A.H. 644, and brought together in it all biographical accounts of the five major works on `ilm al-rijal: al-Kashshi, al-Najashi, al-Tusi's Rijal and Fihrist, and Ibn al-Ghada'iri's al-Du`afa'38.

142. Radi al-Din, ibn Sayyid Muhammad al-`Amili al-Musawi, (died 1168/1754-55), in a work called 'Ithaf dkawi al-'albab,has arranged the entries according to surnames ending with the letter “ya”, and modelling it on Ibn al-Athir's work and al-Lubab of al-Suyuti.

163. Muhammad Taha Najaf (died 1323/1905), son of Mahdi, son of Muhammad Rida al-Tabrizi al-Najafi, compiled Itqan al-maqal. In this book, he divided narrators of hadith into three categories: truthful, righteous and weak.

165. Sayyid Muhsin al-`Amili (died 1370/1950-51) wrote 'A`yan al-Shi`ah, of which thirty-four volumes have been printed in Syria.

166. Aqa Buzurg, Muhammad Muhsin al-Tehrani, wrote al-Dhari`ah 'ila tasanif al-shi`ah, in which he devoted each volume to figures of every century starting from the fourth century Hijrah. He also compiled a work on history of `ilm al-rijal with the title Musaffa al-maqal. In this book he has given biographical accounts of six-hundred narrators.

1. See Muhaqqiq's introduction to al-Suyuti's Tadrib al-rawi; al-Madinah 1379/1959. One instance of this case is the “hadith” which was forged regarding the following verse of the Holy Qur'an on the orders of Mu`awiyah:

And among men is he who sells himself in exchange for God's good pleasure....(2:207)

Through this forgery, an attempt was made to relate this verse to Ibn Muljam, the assassin of Imam `Ali (A); whereas, in reality, this verse is related to `Ali (A) himself, who exposed himself to the danger of death by lying in the Prophet's (S) bed on the night of his hijrah to al-Madinah. See also Kazim Mudir Shanehchi, `IIm al-hadith, p. 66; Mashhad University 1964-65

Ahmad ibn Nasr says: “The Prophet in reply [to a question that he had put] said, 'Hold on to al-Shafi`i for he is from me and God is with him and his followers.”' See Kazim Mudir Shanehchi `IIm al hadith, p. 69, Mashhad University 1964-65

3. The Encyclopedia of Islam, pp. 24, 25. Ahmad Amin, Fajr al Islam, p.256; Egypt 1347/1928. See also Parto e Islam vol I p. 258. An instance of this is the case of Abi `Ismah Nuh ibn Abi Maryam whose practice was to forge a tradition in relation to every surah of the Qur'an. Once when asked about the source of his narrations, he said, “Since people started turning towards the fiqh of Abi Hanifah and the chronicles of Muhammad ibn Ishaq they have been neglecting to memorize the Qur'an by heart. I have fabricated these traditions only for the sake of God's good pleasure.” See Parto e Islam p. 258 and Fajral Islam p. 256

5. An instance of this is the case of Ghiyath ibn Ibrahim, who once on visiting the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur saw him playing with pigeons. On the spur of the moment, he fabricated a “hadith” for the caliph's good pleasure: The Prophet said, “No racing is better than that of hoofs and feathers.” See Fajr al-'Islam, p. 255, and Partoe Islam, vol. I, p.258. Abu Hurayrah once fabricated a “hadith” about onions of Akka (seaport in Palestine). Asked by Mu'awiyah as to where the Prophet said such a thing, he answered, “there where he said, 'Mu'awiyah is the maternal uncle of the faithful (khal al-mu'minin)'.”

6. Kazim Mudir Shanehchi, `Ilm al-hadith, pp.74,75, Mashhad University, 1344 A.H. According to Ibn al-Jawzi, once Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Ma`in were in the mosque of al-Rasifah (in Baghdad) for prayers. In the meanwhile, a storyteller gathered around himself some people and began to recite a tradition, citing as his sources Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Ma`in, that the Prophet said, “whoever says, 'La ilaha illa Allah', God will reward him with a bird whose beak is of gold and feathers of coral.” Then he proceeded to describe the bird and the reward of the recipient in such a detail as can not be contained even in twenty pages. On hearing him, Yahya and ibn Hanbal looked at each other while the “muhaddith” started collecting tips from the people. Yahya approached the man and asked him as to who had told him this tradition. “Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Ma`in,” was his reply. “I am Yahya and this is Ahmad ibn Hanbal”, said Yahya pointing to Ibn Hanbal, “we ourselve have never heard of such a tradition.” The storyteller replied, 'I had heard that Yahya ibn Ma`in is an idiot I didn't believe it. You talk as if you two are the only Yahya and Ibn Hanbal in the whole world! I have written traditions from seventeen Yahya ibn Ma`ins and Ahmad ibn Hanbal's.” Then he promptly slipped out of the mosque. See Hafiz Nishaburi Hakim Abu `Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd Allah, Ma`rifat ulum al hadith, p. 289; Egypt 1937

8. During the earliest times the traditions were transmitted orally by teachers to students of hadith. One who had leant traditions in this way under the direction of a teacher could, in his turn, again communicate them to others. Ijazah (lit. permit) was the term for a teacher's sanction granted to those considered reliable by him for further transmission of traditions to others

16. The names in this list are of those who have worked on history or `ilm al-rijal, regardless of whether they were merely chroniclers or those whose work was aimed at distinguishing reliable from unreliable narrators. The names in the list have been taken from the Catalogue of the Library of University of Tehran